Разработчик: Ozapell
Описание
The graphics environment and interface are loosely based on early 1980s color home computers.
The programming language is heavily inspired by modern languages (especially C and javaScript) while using BASIC keywords for simplicity.
The supplied library provides enough functionality to create simple games and audio-visual demonstrations.
Ozapell Basic was designed to be as simple as possible while providing a variety of features. It could be fun for someone who wants to program or make retro 1980s style games but doesn't want to learn a complicated modern language.
Special features include:
Steady 60fps performance
Create executables for distribution
Support for modern (CD quality) wave audio sound
Alternate freely between line editor and fullscreen editor or use an external text editor
Built-in speed limiter -- programs will run at same speed on fast or Minimum Specification systems or turn off the speed limiter for full processing speed
Secured to prevent access to other folders and files
Fullscreen and Widescreen
24-bit color
Collision detection for sprites
Partial mouse support for receiving clicks from left, right and middle mouse buttons
Source code is (mostly) compiled to memory before starting instead of interpreting the source code during execution
Поддерживаемые языки: english
Системные требования
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7/8/10
- Processor: 2.6 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: Video Card and Display must support 1280x720 at 60Hz (fullscreen only)
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Storage: 16 MB available space
- Sound Card: DirectSound compatible sound card
- Additional Notes: Desktop, laptop or tablet with physical keyboard
Отзывы пользователей
Just download FuzeBASIC or Pygame instead. This is obviously neglected, lackluster and not worth your time.
Pretty neat
yes very code
I am reviewing this as a beginner programmer, and all I gotta say is that the dev targeted the wrong audience. I do admit that Ozapell Basic looks like it could have potential, what with the retro style, and nostalgia for some people, the software could be a lot fun to use, but the main question is: is it worth buying? No, it's not, especially with that price, and let me explain why.
First off, the IDE as a whole is poorly designed and optimized, technically speaking. According to the dev, only one resolution is supported, which is 1280x720 at 60Hz, the reason for that was that "It becomes a timing issue. 1920x1080 would require twice as much data copied 60 times per second. Some systems will lag." Like seriously? I'm not really sure how displays completely work in terms of performance with the system, but you can't even support multiple screen resolutions in the year 2018 for a software that requires Windows 7 at a minimum!? He also used that same excuse for the fullscreen, hence why it took him a while to add windowed mode in his updates. His only solution was to "visit the support web site for the manufacturer, they may have a fix or workaround to address this issue." This isn't really a good start, Ozapell, just to make it clear. I don't think anyone's first impulse is to call their computer manufacturer to fuck with their display settings just so they can make that one software in their PC work, this is pointless time consuming.
Now that I took the technical issues out of the way, let's talk about the programming language itself. Frankly, I don't see why it's supposed to be the "logical solution" for new programmers, it looks like a rough experimental language mixing assembly, JS, C and Basic into one language, and made solely for a hobbyist's project out of the coder's boredom. This is a mess, it's not even close to being simple to use, especially when making something as simple as additions is this:
[quote]0 VARONE = 10
1 VARTWO = 5
2 ADD
3 PRINT RESULT[/quote]
Instead of this:
[quote]PRINT 10 + 5[/quote]
Most of the natural instincts that you have in coding are thrown out the window, but code complications aside, it also lacks of content and presentable documentation. For instance, there are no workshops, so you can't share your programs with other people, there's no telling what went wrong with your program when the IDE helps you the retro style, which is none, the results of what you coded aren't really satisfying, and the documentation can only be accessed on a PDF file by alt-tabbing every time you forget how a command works, which is tedious as hell with that forced full-screen. Even if you can be in windowed mode, what's the point of giving a retro environment to your target audience, the new programmers, if you have no choice but to alt-tab back to your modern computer interface in order to read the documentations?
That being said, there is a thread from someone on which it really got my attention: https://steamcommunity.com/app/523410/discussions/0/152391995424113220/
The OP kept questionning the developper about the purpose of the software as a whole, and as much as the dev kept refusing every single suggestion he made, I agree with every single one of them. For instance,
[quote]But actually, it can be a fun sort of game, "simulator" where people can play the role of a programmer in a retro environment and need to make retro applications and games and eventually learn something useful, something real by the end.
So I would suggest to make it a game and add some kind of cover story and missions to get staff done basic staff first and then more and more complicated things and teach programming this way, like a game, a simulaton.
It could have two options, Story mode, where we actually take missions (missions = tutorials), play the game and learn and Free mode where we can just do whatever we want just like now and share it in the workshop and load staff from the workshop.[/quote]
This is something Ozapell Basic so desperately needs in order to have its full potential, a fun and unique playability that makes coding in a retro environment enjoyable for the new programmers, not the "Slap Basic to new programmers because it's basic, lolololol" that the software currently reeks of. Unfortunately, Ozapell, instead of acknowledging this, gives solutions as sad as "Edit in notepad if you don't like the IDE," which defeats the purpose that Ozapell Basic originally had: a retro style interface adapted for beginners. The dev constantly contradicts his selling point with solutions that could as well force you to not even use Ozapell Basic in the first place and instead use a modern IDE like Visual Studio.
In conclusion, this software lacks the content it begs to have in order to be worth buying, and so far it isn't worth the 13 US Dollars you spend on, it should be five bucks at best, especially when it's as small as 3mb. If you want to begin your programming journey, search elsewhere. I, as a beginner, learnt more with a C# guidebook and Visual Studio in almost a year than I ever did with Ozapell Basic. Now, the facts that I mentionned could be outdated, as I didn't use the software after the recent updates, but looking at the updates' logs, I don't see any reason why I should. It's just overall not worth it.
Sorry, but I have to say that.
This is not a real language for writing programs.
It's more like experimental mix of basic and assembler with retro editor.
Hard to use, abstract to learn, hurting eyes, and final effects are not satisfying.
If you're really interested to learn something useful to writing apps/games, try something else, like C/C++ or Java + OpenGL.
Sorry, but it's waste of time and money on this program.
I'm looking for something to have fun coding with that does not require me to spend days or weeks to learn. Ozapell Basic is certainly easy to learn but I would not have fun coding with it. Part of it looks like programming in assembler: you're required to store values in variable before doing operation on them, via a subroutine call, and the result is in another variable.
Example that add 10 and 5:
0 VARONE = 10
1 VARTWO = 5
2 ADD
3 PRINT RESULT
I read this was a conscious design choice by the programmers, all I can say is that is not BASIC. I'm glad I got it on sale and I might play some more with it but I'm still searching for an easy and fun programming environment. The closest so far use LUA but I don't like its arrays because the first position is at 1 instead of 0. At least Ozapell Basic arrays start at index 0 but working with them is a pain in the posterior,
It's a pretty interesting project. There's no doubt that some interesting things will come out of it if the community every grows larger. It gets plenty of updates for what its worth, and the documentation is slowly growing. It's a great timewhaster and also a fun way to brush up on some coding skills.
PLEASE NOTE: Originally, Ozapell Basic was advertised as a beginner's language. Since then the description has shifted to describing it a retro hobbyist language. I welcome this change and feel it is more appropriate.
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Ozapell Basic is a retro-styled programming language. It is advertised as both an educational tool to learn the basics of programming and a game development tool for simple retro games.
I was really, really torn on the final verdict of this review. I've actually enjoyed playing with Ozapell Basic quite a bit. It's fairly simple to pick up and play with. It took me back to my youth for a few hours and that was worth the money to me. But it's also flawed. So would I recommend it? Not to the audience it seems to be aimed at...
Using this as an educational tool seems a bit like teaching someone to drive in Ford Model T. The principles may still apply, but it lacks so many modern conveniences that I'm not sure if it's a worthwhile task. There's no IDE here and therefore no syntax highlighting, GUI, contextual help etc. This isn't a complaint as such - it is what appealed to me in the first place. I just take issue with inflicting these archaic limitations on a beginner. Something like Mu ( https://codewith.mu/ ) would seem to be a much better choice. It still has much of the simplicity and immediacy of Ozapell Basic, but lacks the artificial outmoded limitations. As an additional bonus, since it is python-based, much more help is available.
The syntax is "inspired by JavaScript, with BASIC keywords." And it's certainly unusual. For example, this if-then construct:
A = 5
A < 10
IF RESULT
PRINTLINE "A IS LESS THAN 10"
ENDIF
I would have thought the need for the RESULT keyword was a odd limitation of the interpretor. Others might call it horrific. But it's apparently an intentional design choice:
Ozapell wrote:
PRINT 1+1 won't work because it combines a subroutine call with a mathematical operation. To keep Ozapell Basic as simple to read as possible, they must be separated
In [other] languages, you're allowed (encouraged?) to crunch as many operations together as possible on a single line of code. While it can be convenient for veteran programmers, it results in nearly unreadable code. Ozapell Basic was designed with simplicity as a primary goal.
I'm not an educator. This may well be a good way to learn. But I remain unconvinced it should be enforced by the language. If I'm honest, I have to wonder if this is in fact less of a design choice and more a limitation of the way Ozapell Basic is implemented.
So what about as a game development tool? Ozapell says "It could be fun for someone who wants to program or make retro style games but doesn't want to learn a complicated modern language." You certainly could develop complete games with Ozapell Basic and it could be fun, but I think only in a 'what can I do with limitations' kind of way. If you want to develop something without learning a complicated language. I'd recommend Game Maker Studio instead. Anything you wanted to make with Ozapell Basic, you could make with Game Maker in a fraction of the time. It would be much easier to pick up and learn too. Plus you can delve deeper in to code if you wish. Game Maker is also great for children.
So, how would I recommend it? If you're an oddball who can see past it's eccentricities, I say go for it. Ozapell Basic is quirky, sometimes esoteric and feels very hobbyist. It can successfully transport you back in time three decades and is charming and unique as it does it. Maybe it shouldn't try to be more than that.
I'll finish with the classic "99 bottles" example in Ozapell Basic.
REM OZAPELLBASIC VERSION OF
REM 99 BOTTLES OF BEER
REM BY JOSEPH FOWLER
REM ([email protected])
REM CODED IN-EDITOR. ;)
REM MODIFIED FROM ERIC CARR'S
REM
FOR BOTTLES=99 TO 1
PRINT BOTTLES
PRINT " BOTTLE"
BOTTLES > 1
IF RESULT
PRINT "S"
ENDIF
PRINT " OF BEER ON THE WALL, "
PRINT BOTTLES
PRINT " BOTTLE"
IF RESULT
PRINT "S"
ENDIF
PRINT " OF BEER. TAKE ONE DOWN AND"
PRINT " PASS IT AROUND, "
BOTTLES - 1
PRINT RESULT
PRINT " BOTTLE"
VARONE = RESULT
VARTWO = 1
NOTEQUALTO
IF RESULT
PRINT "S"
ENDIF
PRINTLINE " OF BEER ON THE WALL."
NEXT BOTTLES
It is great for a hobbyist programmer that likes to fool around with programming. Highly recomended!
Here we have another dialect of BASIC. “Ozapell Basic is a programming language simple enough to teach the basics of programming - Blah, blah, blah… etc.” It’s is true that you can program using Ozapell Basic but let’s just be honest with ourselves it is not a good idea in 2017. And for beginners who never programmed in their lives it’s just bad. Don’t get me wrong I’m not one of those people who think BASIC is a horrible language and should never be learned; it’s just my opinion. For beginners I would strongly recommend to start with something like python or JavaScript. This languages are easy to learn and you don’t need an IDE to write your programs. Moreover, there are thousands of tutorials how to program games using these languages and a lot of them are free. If you are getting started with a dialect of BASIC, it is extremely hard to even find a good tutorial which is going to help you understand how to program.
In my opinion these kind of dialects aimed towards people who already know how to program and they are just interested in learning something new. I myself program C++ and some front-end work with JS & jQuery. For me, it is interesting to have a look at software like Ozapell Basic on my weekends. However, the lack of good community, steam workshop, informative tutorials and having the idea that it is still BASIC and it is 2017 now kind of kill my motivation to invest my time in building a decent program using Ozapell Basic.
As for the compiler itself, I wish we could have a 2 window mode where we can use Ozapell Basic like emacs. One window for compilation/debugging only and the other one is for writing code. It’s really uncomfortable to save my file and close it each time I try to compile my program. I mean productivity just decreases. It would be also nice if the developer could implement steam cloud and workshop because sharing something that you’ve built is kind of awesome and could motivate others to give this software a try. “It was created using Ozapell Basic” – “ Wow, really?! No joke?! That’s awesome!”
I like the way this software looks. It gives me some kind of retro feel. I never had a computer like Atari 800, Apple2 or Commodore 64 where BASIC was the main language. I started with Borland compliers on Windows XP :P. Nowadays, I use IDEs, vim and emacs. Frankly, after using Brackets, VS: Community and other IDEs, Ozapell Basic just feels refreshing. I can really feel the struggle of people who were programming 40-30 years ago looking at monochrome monitors, not having good debugging tools and there was no IntelliSense!!!! This was a nightmare!
In a nutshell, I have no problem paying for this software. Developer described everything it could do and everything is true. However, don’t think you can do serious game dev using Ozapell Basic and it is certainly not the easiest thing to get started with. Just because it is not beginner-friendly. In my opinion this software is focused towards programming enthusiasts.
Keep up all the good work bud! It is really nice to see that steam’s adding more software. Good luck!
Definitely great for learning BASIC and learning programming. Really hoping for further updates to continue!
Fantastic software for learning to program. Has a great retro feel. It is currently a bit lacking in documentation and you have to experiment a bit to learn the syntax, but there will be a manual by the time it leaves early access. Very helpful devs.
Дополнительная информация
| Разработчик | Ozapell |
| Платформы | Windows |
| Ограничение возраста | Нет |
| Дата релиза | 16.01.2025 |
| Отзывы пользователей | 58% положительных (12) |